
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov]
[Laws in effect as of January 23, 2000]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 23, 2000 and December 4, 2001]
[CITE: 42USC2000c-6]

 
                 TITLE 42--THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
 
                        CHAPTER 21--CIVIL RIGHTS
 
                     SUBCHAPTER IV--PUBLIC EDUCATION
 
Sec. 2000c-6. Civil actions by the Attorney General


(a) Complaint; certification; notice to school board or college 
        authority; institution of civil action; relief requested; 
        jurisdiction; transportation of pupils to achieve racial 
        balance; judicial power to insure compliance with constitutional 
        standards; impleading additional parties as defendants

    Whenever the Attorney General receives a complaint in writing--
        (1) signed by a parent or group of parents to the effect that 
    his or their minor children, as members of a class of persons 
    similarly situated, are being deprived by a school board of the 
    equal protection of the laws, or
        (2) signed by an individual, or his parent, to the effect that 
    he has been denied admission to or not permitted to continue in 
    attendance at a public college by reason of race, color, religion, 
    sex or national origin,

and the Attorney General believes the complaint is meritorious and 
certifies that the signer or signers of such complaint are unable, in 
his judgment, to initiate and maintain appropriate legal proceedings for 
relief and that the institution of an action will materially further the 
orderly achievement of desegregation in public education, the Attorney 
General is authorized, after giving notice of such complaint to the 
appropriate school board or college authority and after certifying that 
he is satisfied that such board or authority has had a reasonable time 
to adjust the conditions alleged in such complaint, to institute for or 
in the name of the United States a civil action in any appropriate 
district court of the United States against such parties and for such 
relief as may be appropriate, and such court shall have and shall 
exercise jurisdiction of proceedings instituted pursuant to this 
section, provided that nothing herein shall empower any official or 
court of the United States to issue any order seeking to achieve a 
racial balance in any school by requiring the transportation of pupils 
or students from one school to another or one school district to another 
in order to achieve such racial balance, or otherwise enlarge the 
existing power of the court to insure compliance with constitutional 
standards. The Attorney General may implead as defendants such 
additional parties as are or become necessary to the grant of effective 
relief hereunder.

(b) Persons unable to initiate and maintain legal proceedings

    The Attorney General may deem a person or persons unable to initiate 
and maintain appropriate legal proceedings within the meaning of 
subsection (a) of this section when such person or persons are unable, 
either directly or through other interested persons or organizations, to 
bear the expense of the litigation or to obtain effective legal 
representation; or whenever he is satisfied that the institution of such 
litigation would jeopardize the personal safety, employment, or economic 
standing of such person or persons, their families, or their property.

(c) ``Parent'' and ``complaint'' defined

    The term ``parent'' as used in this section includes any person 
standing in loco parentis. A ``complaint'' as used in this section is a 
writing or document within the meaning of section 1001, title 18.

(Pub. L. 88-352, title IV, Sec. 407, July 2, 1964, 78 Stat. 248; Pub. L. 
92-318, title IX, Sec. 906(a), June 23, 1972, 86 Stat. 375.)


                               Amendments

    1972--Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 92-318 inserted ``sex'' after 
``religion,''.

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in title 20 sections 1656, 1754.
